Hinduism in the Medieval Period

The medieval period, from around 600 to 1800 CE, was a time of great creativity in Hinduism. Magnificent temples were built across India; the great philosophers of Vedanta lived and taught; the devotional bhakti movement spread from the south to every region; and Tantric traditions flourished. From the 11th century, much of northern India came under the rule of Muslim dynasties, and Hindu traditions developed in a complex relationship of conflict, coexistence and exchange with Islam.

The age of temples

Between the 7th and 13th centuries, powerful dynasties built temples on an unprecedented scale. The Pallavas created the shore temple and rock-cut monuments at Mamallapuram; the Chalukyas built at Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal; the Chandelas built the temples of Khajuraho; and the Chola dynasty of Tamil Nadu raised the vast Brihadeeswarar temple at Thanjavur, completed in 1010. Temples became centres of worship, education, music, dance, landholding and economic life, supporting thousands of priests, musicians, craftsmen and servants.

The great philosophers

The medieval period produced the founders of the major schools of Vedanta:

Adi Shankara (8th century), the teacher of Advaita, or non-dualism.
Ramanuja (11th–12th centuries), who taught Vishishtadvaita and devotion to Vishnu.
Madhva (13th century), the founder of Dvaita, or dualism.

In Kashmir, Abhinavagupta (10th–11th centuries) developed the non-dual philosophy of Kashmir Shaivism.

Bhakti spreads

Beginning with the Tamil Alvars and Nayanars, devotional movements spread to Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Bengal, Assam and the Hindi-speaking north. Poet-saints such as Jnaneshwar, Kabir, Mirabai, Surdas, Tulsidas and Chaitanya composed in regional languages and made devotion accessible to all.

Encounters with Islam

Islam reached Sindh in 711–12 CE. In the early 11th century, Mahmud of Ghazni led raids into north-west India, plundering temples including Somnath in Gujarat in 1025–26. From 1206, the Delhi Sultanate ruled much of the north, followed from 1526 by the Mughal empire.

Relations between Hindus and Muslim rulers varied greatly across time and place. Some rulers destroyed temples, especially during conquest, and Hindus were often required to pay the jizya tax on non-Muslims. Others patronised Hindu scholars, employed Hindus at the highest levels of government and supported religious dialogue. The Mughal emperor Akbar (reigned 1556–1605) abolished the jizya, married Hindu Rajput princesses and held debates among scholars of many faiths. His great-grandson Dara Shikoh translated the Upanishads into Persian. The emperor Aurangzeb (reigned 1658–1707), by contrast, reimposed the jizya in 1679 and ordered the destruction of a number of major temples, including the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi in 1669.

Everyday interaction also produced exchange. Bhakti saints and Sufi mystics shared ideas, music and audiences, and a new religion, Sikhism, emerged in the Punjab from the teachings of Guru Nanak (1469–1539).

Hindu kingdoms

Powerful Hindu states continued to flourish. The Vijayanagara empire (1336–1646) dominated south India from its splendid capital at Hampi, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In the 17th century, Shivaji founded the Maratha kingdom, crowned in 1674, which became the leading power in India in the 18th century. The Maratha queen Ahilyabai Holkar of Indore (1725–1795) rebuilt temples and pilgrimage sites across India, including the present Kashi Vishwanath temple in 1780.

Into the colonial era

By the end of the 18th century, the British East India Company was becoming the dominant power in India, opening a new chapter in Hindu history. See Reform movements and the Hindu renaissance.

Sources and further reading

Richard M. Eaton, India in the Persianate Age, 1000–1765 (Allen Lane, 2019).
Romila Thapar, Somanatha: The Many Voices of a History (Verso, 2005).
Gavin Flood, An Introduction to Hinduism (Cambridge University Press, 1996).